Most pool and billiards tables employ a felt cloth for covering the playing surface of the table, as well as the rail that borders the playing surface between the pockets. Traditionally, both the playing surface cover and the rail cover have been secured to the table by closely spaced, heavy duty staples. This technique of securing the cloth to the table is tedious and time consuming. For the playing surface alone, 250-300 staples may be required. Moreover, it is difficult and time consuming to remove and replace a cloth that has been secured to the rail or playing surface by staples. Each individual staple must be pried out of the table and then replaced to secure a new cloth.
Various known pool tables have employed wood splines to secure the cloth to the rail or table. For example, in some tables an elongate channel is routed along the top surface of the rail. An upper edge of the cloth is held in the channel by a featherstrip that is tightly fitted into the channel. Various other tables employ a spline construction for holding the cloth that covers the playing surface. In each of these known techniques, however, the channel that holds the spline is routed or otherwise formed permanently in a wooden portion of the table. As a result, if the spline is ill-fitted in the channel, the cloth is not securely held. Moreover, if the temperature and/or humidity in the room varies, a wood routed channel will tend to shrink and expand. This also tends to loosen the cloth cover.